A study by researchers from MIT and Dartmouth finds that an airline tarmac rule may lead to more delays, reports Hugo Martin for The Los Angeles Times. The study finds that airlines are “more likely to cancel flights that are delayed to avoid being fined by the Department of Transportation, thus creating more passenger delays.”
Boston Herald reporter Jordan Graham writes about the MIT team working to develop a Hyperloop transportation system. “The Hyperloop would be a system of near-vacuum tubes that sends levitating pods from one place to another at 760 miles per hour,” Graham explains.
MIT researchers are using Legos to map out how changes in bus-rapid transit systems could affect transportation in Boston, writes Nina Godlewski for Boston.com. “Our ultimate objective is this idea of co-creation...We would like that to happen in how we produce 21st century transit systems,” explains Prof. Chris Zegras.
In a Financial Times article, John Aglionby writes about the impact of social media in Africa, highlighting how MIT researchers have developed a comprehensive map and application for Nairobi’s bus routes. The app allows users to “plot their way across the capital easily.”
MIT junior Ian Reynolds has constructed an LED display mapping the location of MBTA vehicles across the city’s subway lines, reports Steve Annear for The Boston Globe. “Our transit system has a lot of personality,” says Reynolds. “It’s very, very integrated into the fabric of the city.”
Graduate student Jeffrey Rosenblum participates in a discussion on WBUR’s Radio Boston about biking in Boston. Rosenblum argues that people need more transportation options so they can “drive for the trips that make sense to drive, and they can bike for the trips that make sense to bike, and take transit.”
According to a new MIT study, airlines could handle flight delays more equitably by distributing them among themselves, reports Lloyd Mallison for Boston.com. The new system “would mean that two hypothetical planes could both have a 15-minute delay rather than one having no delay, and one having a 30-minute wait,” Mallison explains.
A new study by MIT researchers shows how airlines could juggle delays more equitably by distributing disruptions among themselves, reports Bart Jansen for USA Today. The researchers found that airlines could distribute delays “without adding significantly to the overall delays.”
In collaboration with Columbia University and the University of Nairobi, MIT researchers have created a map of Nairobi’s informal matatu (or mini-bus) transit system, writes Shara Ton for Wired. Ton explains that, “Just as New York commuters can plot their subway routes on the service, residents of Nairobi can now jack into the matatu system on their smartphones.”
Steve Annear writes for The Boston Globe about “TransportationCamp New England,” a conference exploring the future of transportation to be held at MIT on April 11th. The event will “play host to demonstrations of technologies including a fuel cell car and the Cambridge-bred Copenhagen Wheel, which provides stored electric power to cyclists struggling to pump their pedals.”
Senior lecturer Steven Spear writes for The Boston Globe about the issues with public transportation in Boston this winter and how the MBTA can avoid similar problems in the future. Spear argues that it is necessary for the MBTA to develop “a high-speed problem- solving capability characteristic of the world’s most resilient organizations.”
Professor John Hansman reflects on the two Malaysian airliners lost in 2014 in this Boston Globe article. “It appears that in 2014 more people perished from terrorist acts in commercial aviation than all other aviation accident causes combined,” writes Hansman.
Sanjay Salomon writes for Boston.com about the MIT Media Lab’s “You Are Here” project, highlighting the maps researchers have produced exhibiting transportation options for 100 cities. “According to the project’s map of Cambridge, public transportation seems to fall short for most of the city,” writes Salomon.
Sacha Pfeiffer and Lynn Jolicoeur of WBUR report on Cambridge Mobile Telematics, a company founded by MIT Professor Hari Balakrishnan to help improve driver safety. The company developed an app that “automatically detects when you’re in the car and driving, it detects when you’ve stopped driving, and then it provides feedback to you,” Pfeiffer and Jolicoeur report.
BBC News reporter Chris Neiger writes that MIT researchers have developed a new traffic management system to help drivers avoid congested roads. “According to field trials, the vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V)-based traffic solution resulted in an 8% increase in overall vehicle speed,” write Neiger.